Group honors Long Beach Mayor Foster for helping make city bike-friendly

LONG BEACH - Mayor Bob Foster was honored Monday night for helping Long Beach rapidly rise to become a nationally recognized bike-friendly city.

Foster received the League of American Bicyclists' first Friendly America Leadership Award for "his dedication and vision to transform Long Beach into one of the nation's top cycling cities," said Andy Clarke, president of the League of American Bicyclists.

Foster was set to receive the award at the opening reception of the Pro Walk Pro Bike conference at the Long Beach Convention Center.

The League of American Bicyclists is a Washington, D.C.-based advocacy group promoting bicycling for fun, fitness and transportation.

It has 300,000 members and affiliates and has recognized bike-friendly cities for almost a decade, Clarke said.

"Bicycle friendly communities don't start with bike lanes or share-the-road campaigns or cycling education, they start with a visionary leader. We thought it was past due to honor a local official," Clarke said. "Long Beach has made big strides - bike signals, separated bike lanes and shared lanes - and that doesn't happen without someone like Mayor Foster.

"City staff does the day-to-day work. They can't do it without knowing the mayor will support them when push comes to shove."

Since 2003, the group has designated more than 500 cities as Bike Friendly Communities for making bicycling safer and more accessible. Long Beach received a bronze level recognition in 2009 and a silver level status earlier this year. Long Beach has expanded the city's bicycling network, increased bicycle education and promoted cycling events.

The Pro Walk Pro Bike conference is a four-day event where bicycle advocates in the public and private sector gather to share best practices on funding resources, planning and engineering, and education.